The developers of the Arch Linux-based CachyOS distribution have released a new ISO snapshot for March 2026. It includes all the latest updated packages, new features, and improvements.
With the long-term supported Linux 6.18 LTS kernel, the CachyOS ISO snapshot features the latest KDE Plasma 6.6.2 desktop environment by default, which comes with the KDE Frameworks 6.23 and KDE Gear 25.12.3 software suites.
Some of the highlights of the new CachyOS release include an updated Calamares graphical installer with animated GIF/WebP previews on the Desktop Selection page for the KDE Plasma, GNOME, Niri, and COSMIC desktop environments, along with JPEG XL support for reducing image size.
This release also enables Cachy-Update by default for GNOME and KDE Plasma installations, adds support for installing Winboat directly from CachyOS-Welcome for a seamless Windows Docker virtual machine experience, and replaces SDDM with Plasma Login Manager in the Handheld version.
Among other notable changes, the new version of CachyOS removes support for the Bcachefs file system from the file system selection, improves support for LUKS2 encrypted installations, and replaces gamescope-session-plus with gamescope-session-cachyos in the Handheld version.
See the release notes for the changes coming with the new CachyOS ISO snapshot
It can be downloaded from the official website in Desktop and Handheld versions. Existing users can update their installations with the command sudo pacman -Syu or using Plasma Discover.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
